The Chicco Keyfit 30 car seat was easy to install. One of the best features is that it has a clip that holds the car’s shoulder strap and lap belt together. This keeps the car seat from sliding on our leather seats or tipping if the shoulder belt begins to retract—a problem we had with our bigger, one-piece car seat for our older child. The base is also separate from the car seat, so it’s easy to thread the seat belt through the openings in the base and lock it in. A built-in level gives you reassurance that you’re positioning it right.

Easy to Strap the Baby In

The straps are easy to expand, giving you lots of room to get the baby into the seat. It’s easy to clip, and it has a nice, big button to help you tighten the straps. A newborn insert gives extra support for small babies.

Easy to Snap In and Out of the Base

When our son was a newborn and we still carried him in the car seat (he’s too heavy for that now), it was easy to snap the Chicco Keyfit 30 car seat apart from the base. The big button on the top is easy to find and grab with one hand. When you put the car seat back into the base, you know that you’ve done it correctly when you hear a reassuring snap.

Somewhat Easy to Snap Into the Stroller

Putting the Chicco Keyfit 30 car seat into the stroller was a bit more difficult. I used the stroller for the first time on a play date with two other new moms. One mom had a front carrier, another an umbrella stroller, and I was the only one with a Chicco travel system. It took all three of us to realize that you have to have the stroller’s tray intact in order to support the car seat. Once I did this, the reassuring snap let me know I’d installed it correctly.

Top-Ranked for a Reason

There’s a reason the Chicco Keyfit 30 car seat keeps ranking well—it’s simply a good product. We’ve used it for two babies, and it has served us well.

When my first son was born, we went all out and bought the Chicco Cortina KeyFit 30 Travel System. The stroller is great; it’s sturdy, the carseat snapped easily into the stroller when we used it for our newborn, and it also works well now that my son is almost two. I still use it for walks through our neighborhood when I’m taking just my older son. We call it the stroller Hummer.

When our second son arrived just 19 months later, I started looking at double strollers. The Chicco Cortina Together Double Stroller was the first item I looked at because I knew our carseat would snap into it. But I’d used front-to-back strollers before; my nieces had one, and a friend from my MOPS group used one. I’d tried steering this type of stroller, and it was a beast. Not to mention that we have a small car, and I was worried about a double stroller fitting into the trunk.

Compact Double Stroller Alternative

The Maclaren Twin Triumph Stroller is the best of both worlds. It’s an umbrella stroller, but it’s sturdy. It also reclines appropriately for an infant. I had some concerns at first about putting my newborn in an umbrella stroller, but this one is much heftier than your typical umbrella model. It also has nice padding and head support.

Maclaren Triumph Stroller

Surprisingly, the weight limit is higher than that of the Chicco Together Double stroller; the Maclaren Twin Triumph Stroller can hold up to 110 pounds.

I had some concerns about fitting the side-by-side stroller through doors, but it’s designed to fit through a standard door frame. We even made it through an all-day zoo trip with no problems.

This stroller also fits well in the trunk of our Ford Taurus: it actually folds up smaller than our single stroller. I forgot to take it out of the trunk before my most recent solo grocery trip, and I was able to squeeze a week’s worth of groceries and diapers into the trunk with it.

Easy to Steer

My favorite thing about this stroller is how well it corners. It’s easy to get through tight spaces because it’s so compact. It’s really easy to steer; this was one of my main concerns about getting a double stroller, but this hasn’t been an issue.

Tough to Open and Close

The only downside we’ve noticed so far is that the stroller is a bit hard to open and close. Opening the stroller involves unlocking hard-to-see clasps on either side of the stroller, then shaking and wiggling the stroller a bit. Closing it requires hitting several levers, which aren’t clearly labeled.